Accessibility Links

Summer signing Romelu Lukaku is left on sidelines by Chelsea

James Ducker, Peter Lansley

September 3 2011, 1:00am, The Times

Lukaku’s omission will surprise the £18m signingDarren Walsh

Andre Villas-Boas sprung a major surprise yesterday when he omitted new £18 million signing Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea’s Champions League squad. Ryan Bertrand is the other significant absentee from Chelsea’s 22-man squad, which will leave Villas-Boas without any specialist cover for Ashley Cole at left back throughout the group stages.

Villas-Boas’ hands have been tied by Chelsea’s poor record of youth development, which has prevented them from submitting a full 25-man squad. Under Uefa rules eight of each club’s 25 players must be home-grown, with four developed by the club and four by the country in question. John Terry is the only player at Chelsea who counts as locally-trained so they were forced to trim their squad by three, with Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Ross…